Yeah, as a table we'd had a discussion about the nature of the Dark Will and how it was still feasible to have a Dark Folk PC, and I just let out the insidious DM warning of 'well, its something you'd always be at risk for'

I think a sort of dark side of the Force approach to it will work best at the table.

I’m also not a fan of truly random encounters. They do become a grind. My encounters always forward the story, more or less. The only time they don’t is if they are used as a consequence of some failure, like failed stealth rolls or some attempt to rest in a bad spot.

Heh, you want to see cautious PCs, show them a room that you know perfectly well is utterly devoid of anything dangerous whatsoever...and a single chair in the middle of it. They'll spend the next 20 sessions outside of that room, discussing what the hell to do. My favourite anti-cautionary tale (is that a thing? It is now) was from a guy who set up a trap triggered by a button ten feet away. Bravo adventurers, for remembering that ten-foot pole...

But yeah, sometimes the players will beat you at your own game. That's good. Success outside of the game will make them more vulnerable to overconfidence in the game.

And I've been doing some dwelling on it, and I think tonight I'm going to introduce a Gandalf-esque character to start serving as the groups' patron, quest giver and sort of start guiding them a bit, make him someone they can get advice from, etc, and not railroad, but help keep them focused.

Also before we leave Zeland and the Loch Brech campsite, I'm going to do a 5E adaptation of the 3.5 adventure the Burning Plague.

Ok, so I ended up not introducing my pivotal NPC just yet. I've been hemming and hawing what I want him to be first. So, my thoughts are that I want to introduce something I'm calling the 'Order of Aelfar' which is a clandestine organization that is hell-bent on restoring the ancient kingdom of Aelfar and in doing so liberate the kingdoms, reunite the great alliances of Elves, Dwarves and Men.

Part of that is going to be the rediscovery/recovery of Gnomes, which the reticence of the Kobolds is tied too, because the particular clan of kobolds has been allied with the small Gnome population that is dealing with the surface again in secret, having carried on a secret guerrilla war for centuries after realizing no one knew they existed (how can the drow target for retaliation what they think they have destroyed?).

So I can't decide if I want it to be a Gnomish merlin/gandalf type, a human warrior/heir of Aelfar, or maybe like, an ancient gold dragon in disguise. Or all three, just have them be different parts of the organization.

As far as the session went, the Loch Brech campsite received a messenger from a town called Duvik's Pass (from the 3.5 adventure The Burning Plague) that has asked for supplies and aid after their men went missing & a sickness spread through the population. Kieran and Bebbin (still setting up the eventual gasp she's a spy moment) were to ride off ahead on horses, while the group escorted a wagon of supplies.

The group hired an NPC I created, Willow the Halfling (a divine soul sorcerer healer type ish, not a class but healing stuff npc) to go along as a dedicated healer (mostly because the groups' healer wasn't present and the group cleric isn't a super team minded guy and usually has no spell slots by the time someone needs healing), and off they went.

I used the journey mechanic, and it worked out for them to only have 1 encounter, which was they discovered a pair of slaughtered horses (Keiran and Bebbin's) and then were ambushed by Goblins. 1 goblin escaped, but then they discovered that it had been the O'nel's horses, and decided to carry on to Duvik's pass anyways. They make it to Duvik's pass,